A known electrical connector has a support structure made of a plastic material. The support structure includes a contact-carrying body carrying a plurality of electrical terminals, a slide member slidably mounted within the contact-carrying body, an upper body mounted above the contact-carrying body, and an actuation lever pivotally mounted on said upper body and having at least one toothed wheel or toothed wheel sector engaging with a rack of the slide member. The lever is movable between an inoperative position and an operative position and correspondingly moves the slide member between a retracted position and an advanced position.
An electrical connector C of this known type is shown in FIGS. 1-3. The electrical connector C is matable with a mating connector O. FIGS. 2 and 3 show two adjacent mating connectors O, with the connector C coupled to one of the mating connectors O. FIG. 2 shows a preliminary coupling state, while FIG. 3 shows a final coupling state reached by moving an actuation lever 4 of the connector C from its inoperative position shown in FIG. 2 to its operative position shown in FIG. 3.
The connector C has a support structure made of plastic material carrying a plurality of electrical terminals T1 for mechanical and electrical coupling to terminals T2 of the mating connector O. The connector C includes a contact-carrying body 1 of quadrilateral shape having two opposing side walls and two opposing end walls. The contact-carrying body 1 carries the electrical terminals T1 to which a plurality of conductors F are electrically connected.
Above the contact-carrying body 1, an upper body 3 shown in FIGS. 1-3, also made of a plastic material, is rigidly connected to the contact-carrying body 1. The rigid connection of the upper body 3 to the contact-carrying body 1 is achieved by the mutual engagement of elastic teeth and corresponding seats formed in the bodies 1, 3.
The connector C further comprises a slide member 2, also made of plastic material, slidably mounted within the contact-carrying body 1 and actuable using the actuation lever 4 pivotally mounted on the upper body 3. The lever 4 has two arms 40 and a handle 41 that connects the two arms 40. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the lever 4 has a pair of toothed wheels 42 each integrated into the terminal end of the arm 40 opposite the end of the arm 40 connected to the handle 41. Each toothed wheel 42 is rotatable, together with the entire lever 4, about the pivot axis of the lever 4 on the upper body 3. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, each toothed wheel 42 engages in a rack 5 of a side wall of the slide member 2. Actuation of the lever 4 from its inoperative position to its operative position causes a movement of the slide member 2 with respect to the contact-carrying body 1 from a retracted position to an advanced position within the contact-carrying body 1.
As shown in FIG. 2, when the connector C is in the preliminary coupling state with the mating connector O, a plurality of pins O1 provided on the side walls O2 of the mating connector O are housed in respective slits 20 provided along the side walls of the slide member 2. During actuation of the lever 4 from its inoperative position shown in FIG. 2 to its operative position shown in FIG. 3, the slide member 2 performs a combined translation and lowering movement with respect to the mating connector O guided by the shape of the slits 20. This combined movement is a horizontal translation of the slide member 2 with respect to the contact-carrying body 1 and a vertical lowering of the contact-carrying body 1 on the mating connector O.
The rotation of the lever 4 into its operative position brings about the complete coupling of the terminals T1, T2 carried by the contact-carrying body 1 and by the mating connector O. The combined movement of the slide member 2 is guided by the shape of the slits 20 in which the pins O1 engage and is controlled by the lever 4, as the rack 5 provided on each side wall of the slide member 2 engages with the toothed wheel 42 carried by the respective arm 40 of the lever 4.
Similar electrical connectors having an actuation lever are also shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,361,036 B2, WO 2009/129062 A1, and WO 2012/007343 A1. WO 2012/007343, for example, discloses an actuation lever provided with a slidable element that serves as a CPA (connection position assurance) device, ensuring correct coupling of the connector with the mating connector. In the electrical connectors described above, however, a significant force must be applied to the actuation lever to couple the connector to the mating connector.